alice in chains

Adelpiero · Post by **Adelpiero** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 1:56 am

anyone heard the group with William DuVall as lead man? does it work?

a very underrated band, i only wish i would of listened to more of their music at their peak. late bloomer into aic.

Dinsdale · Post by **Dinsdale** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 3:21 am

As a kid in my early 20's in the U&L, there was no lack of jamming to AIC at their peak.

I haven't heard it, but I can't picture AIC without Layne. The man invented the difinitive hairstyle for disaffected youth in the early 90's, for chrissakes. That's not easily replaced.

buckeye_in_sc · Post by **buckeye_in_sc** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 2:32 pm

Long time AIC fan here...saw them open for Van Halen in 1991 I believe and was blown away...We Die Young, Bleed The Freak are two of my all time favorites...loved the band...

not a huge fan of the acoustic but hey...they rocked hard man...

will have to check out the new lineup...

MiketheangrydrunkenCUfan · Thu Jun 14, 2007 10:23 pm

Dinsdale wrote:
I haven't heard it, but I can't picture AIC without Layne.

Agreed. I heard Maynard sing a couple songs with them a while back and even that wasn't the same. I also heard Phil Anselmo filled in for a couple shows, which probably would've been interesting to hear, but I don't think anyone could replace Layne.

Facelift, Sap, & Dirt is some of the best music to come out of the grunge era.

King Crimson · Post by **King Crimson** » Fri Jun 15, 2007 12:00 am

i saw AIC open for Iggy Pop at Boulder Theatre in fall of 90. before/about the time man in the box blew up. they were great. my buddy got high with them in the alley.

i think Would? is kind of an epic rock song.

MiketheangrydrunkenCUfan · Fri Jun 15, 2007 8:08 am

King Crimson wrote:i saw AIC open for Iggy Pop at Boulder Theatre in fall of 90. before/about the time man in the box blew up. they were great. my buddy got high with them in the alley.

i think Would? is kind of an epic rock song.

I saw them around the same time when they were the openers on the Clash of the Titans tour w/Anthrax, Megadeth & Slayer. Slayer fans were unaccommodating as usual, but AIC rocked anyway. I had picked up Facelift a few weeks before (based on the "We Die Young" video that had been getting some play on Headbanger's Ball) and it was just starting to sink in. This might've been early 91, but it was still before Nirvana broke. Good times.

Harvdog · Post by **Harvdog** » Fri Jun 15, 2007 3:55 pm

Saw them also in 1991 on Clash of the Titans. They were great. So many great songs. Jerry Cantrell is a great player. I like the fact that he played G&L guitars. It was a killer tone. Tough to duplicate. He was also one of the first guys to really tune down and play in Drop D. It sounded so ballsy. Still does. People love to jump on Nirvana but I was a bigger AIC fan. Saw the new guy when VH-1 honored Heart. He was good and they did a great version of Baracuda. Gretchen Wilson sang on it and it was good.

King Crimson · Post by **King Crimson** » Fri Jun 15, 2007 5:53 pm

there were a lot of good "Seattle" bands: Leaving Trains, Screaming Trees, the Soundgarden records Ultramega, OK, and Louder than Love are largely unheard.

the "grunge" cliche is kinda annoying. though, Bleach was a killer.

Bizzarofelice · Post by **Bizzarofelice** » Fri Jun 15, 2007 9:17 pm

King Crimson wrote:i think Would? is kind of an epic rock song.

I don't like AIC but I love that song.

MiketheangrydrunkenCUfan · Sat Jun 16, 2007 4:09 am

King Crimson wrote:there were a lot of good "Seattle" bands: Leaving Trains, Screaming Trees, the Soundgarden records Ultramega, OK, and Louder than Love are largely unheard.

the "grunge" cliche is kinda annoying. though, Bleach was a killer.

Don't forget about My Sister's Machine and Gruntruck.

Harvdog · Post by **Harvdog** » Sat Jun 16, 2007 12:31 pm

MiketheangrydrunkenCUfan wrote:
King Crimson wrote:there were a lot of good "Seattle" bands: Leaving Trains, Screaming Trees, the Soundgarden records Ultramega, OK, and Louder than Love are largely unheard.

the "grunge" cliche is kinda annoying. though, Bleach was a killer.
Don't forget about My Sister's Machine and Gruntruck.

But the all times best has to be Jimi James and the Blue Flames

Rack Fu · Post by **Rack Fu** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 2:04 pm

My first exposure to AIC was also that Clash Of The Titans tour in the summer of '91. Of course, I had seen the Man In The Box video and liked the song.

They blew me away and I have been a huge fan ever since. I'm with Dins on this one though. I can't imagine them without Layne.

It's hard to say if they were the best band on stage that night though. 1991 was Slayer and Megadeth at their absolute peak. They were both awesome that night, even with the fucking annoying Slayer fans. Anthrax blows.

I got the opportunity to catch AIC a few other times (once on the Dirt tour, once at Lollapalooza, once on the Three Legged Dog tour). Nirvana and Pearl Jam got most of the pub and accolades coming from the Seattle scene but AIC and Soundgarden were far better bands.

Dinsdale · Post by **Dinsdale** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 4:59 pm

Rack Fu wrote:Anthrax blows.

There isn't enough money in the world to get me to sit through an Anthrax album. Unfortunately, some of my friends used to crank that garbage up...I'd generally leave the area.

I got the opportunity to catch AIC a few other times

You lucky East Coaster/Flyover Zoners.

We'd get all stoked up when Alice would tour with somebody, and Layne would be in rehab/hospital before they'd make it to the West Coast, every freaking time.

Rack Fu · Post by **Rack Fu** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 3:12 am

Dinsdale wrote:
Rack Fu wrote:Anthrax blows.
There isn't enough money in the world to get me to sit through an Anthrax album. Unfortunately, some of my friends used to crank that garbage up...I'd generally leave the area.

I got the opportunity to catch AIC a few other times
You lucky East Coaster/Flyover Zoners.

We'd get all stoked up when Alice would tour with somebody, and Layne would be in rehab/hospital before they'd make it to the West Coast, every freaking time.

I would've thought that you U&L'ers would've been able to see them whenever you wanted. Probably just the early days though.

I'd love for an Anthrax fan to give me just one good reason as to why anyone would want to listen to their shit music. And "because Scott Ian is cool" is not sufficient.

MiketheangrydrunkenCUfan · Mon Jun 18, 2007 6:31 am

Heh. I actually thought Anthrax stole the show that night. They were the band that I was least interested in seeing out of the four, but I thought they put on a hell of a show. Cheesy or not, Joey Belladonna pwns John Bush. While they might not be as important to metal as Megadeth or Slayer, Among The Living is still a classic album.

Harvdog · Post by **Harvdog** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 12:05 pm

MiketheangrydrunkenCUfan wrote:Heh. I actually thought Anthrax stole the show that night. They were the band that I was least interested in seeing out of the four, but I thought they put on a hell of a show. Cheesy or not, Joey Belladonna pwns John Bush. While they might not be as important to metal as Megadeth or Slayer, Among The Living is still a classic album.

AMEN and Rack! Among the Living is a great metal album. Indians was one of my favorite songs. Spreading the Disease was another great album. A.I.R, The Enemy, Madhouse, Medusa, and Armed and Dangerous were really good songs.

I saw Anthrax for the first time back in early 1987 when they opened for Metallica on Master of Puppets. It was one of the first European shows with Jason Newstead. Great show. It also had Metal Church. Anthrax was really good. I also thought that they were really good at Clash of the Titans.

Dinsdale · Post by **Dinsdale** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 2:24 pm

Rack Fu wrote:
I would've thought that you U&L'ers would've been able to see them whenever you wanted. Probably just the early days though.

Mudhoney...no prob.

Soundgarden...Once a week in the early days.

Mother Love Bone...sure.

Nirvana...did a stint as a house band here in Portland.

Screaming Trees...easy.

But for some reason, AIC never seemed to be sober enough for long enough to actually ever show up for most of their shows.

MiketheangrydrunkenCUfan · Mon Jun 18, 2007 3:15 pm

Harvdog wrote:
MiketheangrydrunkenCUfan wrote:Heh. I actually thought Anthrax stole the show that night. They were the band that I was least interested in seeing out of the four, but I thought they put on a hell of a show. Cheesy or not, Joey Belladonna pwns John Bush. While they might not be as important to metal as Megadeth or Slayer, Among The Living is still a classic album.
AMEN and Rack! Among the Living is a great metal album. Indians was one of my favorite songs. Spreading the Disease was another great album. A.I.R, The Enemy, Madhouse, Medusa, and Armed and Dangerous were really good songs.

I saw Anthrax for the first time back in early 1987 when they opened for Metallica on Master of Puppets. It was one of the first European shows with Jason Newstead. Great show. It also had Metal Church. Anthrax was really good. I also thought that they were really good at Clash of the Titans.

Metal Church was an underrated band from that era as well. Not to mention, I think they were originally from Seattle too, so it's kind of on topic. The Dark was a cool album, but the stuff with their new singer (forget the dude's name, he used to sing for Heretic) was pretty solid as well. The Human Factor came out right during the height of the "grunge" era, so it was largely ignored, but it had some great songs on it.

Harv,
If you're into old-school thrash, check out Dublin Death Patrol. They're a "supergroup" of Bay Area thrash vets that just put out an album in April. I think there's like 9 pr 10 guys in the group. Chuck Billy (Testament) and Steve Souza (Exodus) share lead vocal duties. Their harmonies (and I use that term very loosely) sound pretty badass.

buckeye_in_sc · Post by **buckeye_in_sc** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 5:46 pm

Huge Anthrax fan here...Charlie Benante fucking shreds on the kit...

never saw them live but I love the old shit...Indians, Efilnikufecin another one of my favorites...plus many others I still have in rotation in the iPOD.

Got into some Testament as well...pretty cool shit...

but anthrax was one band I wish I could have seen live with Belladonna...

Dinsdale · Post by **Dinsdale** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 8:47 pm

MiketheangrydrunkenCUfan wrote: Metal Church was an underrated band from that era as well. Not to mention, I think they were originally from Seattle too, so it's kind of on topic.

A band that never got much run outside of the Northwest, but were making their mark in the late 80's early 90's in the Seattle area was Cement(they split time between Seattle and Portland). They never got quite the same opportunity as some of the grunge bands, since they never fell for the "hey, try some of this heroin" trick, but took the heavy sound pretty seriously.

Cement -- The Party's Just Begun

RumpleForeskin · Post by **RumpleForeskin** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 9:50 pm

AIC is good, but of course I tend to lean heavily toward Nirvana and PJ for the most part.

But AIC's Don't Follow is one of my favorite tunes.

Dinsdale · Post by **Dinsdale** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 11:10 pm

Nirvana blew ass.

Nobrain's guitar work blew ass.

The songwriting blew ass.

The lyrics blew ass.

Nobrain's hometown, Aberdeen, blows ass.

Not much about Nirvana doesn't blow ass... except for a forunate brief run at album making.

AIC rules.

PJ... well, Pearl Jam's Greatest Hits... ERRRRRRRR... I mean Ten was pretty damn good. They kind of needed to OD right after the first one, and they would be one of the greatest bands ever.

Shlomart Ben Yisrael · Tue Jun 26, 2007 11:20 pm

Not a huge Chains fan, but Again blows most other grunge contributions of that era out of the water.

RumpleForeskin · Post by **RumpleForeskin** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 3:19 am

Dinsdale wrote: They kind of needed to OD right after the first one, and they would be one of the greatest bands ever.

Obviously my opinion will come across as bias, but Vitalogy, VS, and Yield were all good albums. Of course no album of that genre will ever top Ten, but PJ wasn't a one album wonder.

Tom In VA · Post by **Tom In VA** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 3:23 pm

Have to say the Screaming Trees, Alice in Chains and Soundgarden were my favs from the sub pop era.

The Trees do a version of Hendrix's "Love or Confusion" that blew me away.

I made the supreme sacrifice once and went to a Creed show with the wife as she was a big fan. Instant Karma hit paydirt as I was more than pleasantly surprised to see Jerry Cantrell as one of the opening acts. He kicked ass, IMHO, pimping his Degradation Trip album at the time but he played several AiC numbers. Hellbound, Bargain Basement Howard Hughes and Castaway were pretty damn tight.

King Crimson · Post by **King Crimson** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 4:17 pm

Tom In VA wrote:Have to say the Screaming Trees, Alice in Chains and Soundgarden were my favs from the sub pop era.

The Trees do a version of Hendrix's "Love or Confusion" that blew me away.

i've heard that Trees cover. it is pretty cool. just for kicks, both the Trees (Buzz Factory--on purple or blue vinyl IIRC) and SG (Ultramega OK, and some EP stuff) recorded on SST as well...inna day. useless info, but i like to prop SST.

Green River was another subpop band i kinda liked. in addition to Denver's very own: the Fluid. Side 1 of Roadmouth was killer.